1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to controllers for water softening and filtering systems. In particular, the invention provides a controller for initiating an alarm or regeneration sequence based on a programmable prediction time, total flow through the water treatment device, or combinations thereof, and controlling the sequence of regeneration in response to selected parameters for valve actuation and timing. The invention further provides the capability for integrating multiple water treatment systems for alternating, parallel or progressive water flow through each of the respective systems.
2. Prior Art
Water treatment systems for softening or filtration of hard water typically require regeneration after the treatment of a quantity of water. Apparatus and methods for the softening of water for residential or commercial applications use are exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,815,747; 3,960,721; 4,298,468; 4,239,621; and 4,421,652.
In typical water softening systems, hard mineral ions are removed from the water by passing the hard water through a cation exchange resin. These resins are typically in granular form and remove the hard mineral ions and replace them with other cations, typically sodium.
After treatment of a large enough volume of hard water, the resins become exhausted. The resin may be regenerated by passing a sodium chloride solution or brine through the resin. Steps to loosen the resin, typically known as back-washing, and rinsing of the brine from the resin are additional steps taken in the regeneration cycle. Multiple back-washing steps, rinsing steps, and flushing steps may be performed in an optimized cycle to regenerate the resin.
Control of a prior art regeneration system was typically accomplished first through the use of an initiator which monitored time or total flow of hard water through the system and generated a signal upon reaching a preset limit. The signal from the initiator was received by a sequencer which mechanically or electrically activated valving to accomplish the regeneration sequence. A lack of compatibility between initiators and sequencers produced by different manufacturers has often prevented consumers from optimizing regeneration of water softening systems to meet individual needs. Further, use of multiple water softening units in alternate configurations where one unit produces soft water while the other unit is in regeneration or on standby, parallel operation where multiple water treatment units are operated in parallel, but undergo regeneration at different times, or progressive operation where multiple water treatment units are available and placed on line only as demand requires and individually regenerating when off line, has not been possible due to lack of a controller capable of coordination of multiple systems.